Voice-Controlled Squad-Based RTS There Came an Echo is Coming to PS4

April 10, 2014 Written by Jason Dunning

There Came an Echo is a “voice-controlled squad-based real-time strategy game” from Iridium Studios and it’s coming to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC in late 2014/early 2015 (don’t worry, you can play the game with the DualShock 4 if you choose).

Explaining some more about There Came an Echo is Lead Designer Jason Wishnov:

You don’t play directly as the soldiers in the field, but rather as the tactical commander, issuing strategic orders via headset. Ever felt annoyed when someone in your earpiece told you what to do in a blockbuster, AAA first-person shooter? Well, now, you’re the someone in the earpiece. Some direct influences on the game include X-COM: Enemy Unknown and Tom Clancy’s EndWar.

A lot of you might feel a little antsy about voice recognition. And we understand! But we’d encourage you to turn on your Playstation 4 and give the basic OS voice commands a shot. (It was, in fact, this very process that initially convinced us to reach out to Sony!) But There Came an Echo goes a little farther with something we call “command aliasing”. Don’t like the default commands, like “fire” or “shields up”? You can enter in your own custom word or phrase for every existing unit and command in the game. Want to talk to your units using nothing but quotes from Zoolander? Done. And, for those who still aren’t sold (or just have a sleeping roommate), you can fully control the game with your standard DualShock 4, no problem.

There Came an Echo also has a heavy narrative focus. Your soldiers aren’t generic military types, but individuals, unaccustomed to combat, thrown into an unimaginable conflict over a technology very certain to change the world. You not only talk to them, but they to you; character development and motivation is a major focus for us.